Curating the Evidence About COVID-19 for Frontline Public Health and Clinical Care: The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium.

The public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a deluge of scientific research aimed at informing the public health and medical response to the pandemic. However, early in the pandemic, those working in frontline public health and clinical care had insufficient time to parse the rapidly evolving evidence and use it for decision-making. Academics in public health and medicine were well-placed to translate the evidence for use by frontline clinicians and public health practitioners.

Menopause Is Associated With Immune Activation in Women With HIV.

Background: Persistent immune activation due to gut barrier dysfunction is a suspected cause of morbidity in HIV, but the impact of menopause on this pathway is unknown.

Methods: In 350 women with HIV from the Women's Interagency HIV Study, plasma biomarkers of gut barrier dysfunction (intestinal fatty acid binding protein; IFAB), innate immune activation (soluble CD14 and CD163; sCD14, sCD163), and systemic inflammation (interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor receptor 1; IL-6, TNFR1) were measured at 674 person-visits spanning ≤2 years.

Results: Menopause (post- vs premenopausal status) was associated with higher plasma sCD14 and sCD163 in linear mixed-effects regression adjusting for age and other covariates (β = 161.

Change in Circulating Undercarboxylated Osteocalcin (ucOCN) Is Associated With Fat Accumulation in HIV-Seropositive Women.

Background: Bone mineral density loss and fat accumulation are common in people living with HIV. The bone-derived hormone, undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOCN) regulates fat metabolism. We investigated the relationship between ucOCN change and body fat change among perimenopausal/postmenopausal HIV-seronegative and HIV-seropositive women on long-term antiretrovirals.

Marijuana use and pneumonia risk in a cohort of HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected men.

Background: The prevalence of marijuana use is increasing in the United States. Marijuana smoking has been shown to impair the microbicidal activity of alveolar macrophages and decrease the number of ciliated epithelial cells in the bronchi with a parallel increase in the number of mucus-secreting surface epithelial cells, which may increase the risk of pneumonia. However, it remains unclear whether there is an association between smoking marijuana and pneumonia.

The projected impact of geographic targeting of oral cholera vaccination in sub-Saharan Africa: A modeling study.

Background: Cholera causes an estimated 100,000 deaths annually worldwide, with the majority of burden reported in sub-Saharan Africa. In May 2018, the World Health Assembly committed to reducing worldwide cholera deaths by 90% by 2030. Oral cholera vaccine (OCV) plays a key role in reducing the near-term risk of cholera, although global supplies are limited.

Inflammatory biomarkers and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.

Background: HIV-infected persons have an increased risk of atherosclerosis relative to uninfected individuals. Inflammatory processes may contribute to this risk. We evaluated the associations of 10 biomarkers of systemic inflammation (CRP, IL-6, sTNF-αR1 and 2), monocyte activation (CCL2, sCD163, sCD14), coagulation (fibrinogen, D-dimer), and endothelial dysfunction (ICAM-1) with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis among participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS).

Mapping the burden of cholera in sub-Saharan Africa and implications for control: an analysis of data across geographical scales.

Background: Cholera remains a persistent health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. Cholera can be controlled through appropriate water and sanitation, or by oral cholera vaccination, which provides transient (∼3 years) protection, although vaccine supplies remain scarce. We aimed to map cholera burden in sub-Saharan Africa and assess how geographical targeting could lead to more efficient interventions.

What is a Hotspot Anyway?

AbstractThe importance of spatial clusters, or "hotspots," in infectious disease epidemiology has been increasingly recognized, and targeting hotspots is often seen as an important component of disease-control strategies. However, the precise meaning of "hotspot" varies widely in current research and policy documents. Hotspots have been variously described as areas of elevated incidence or prevalence, higher transmission efficiency or risk, or higher probability of disease emergence.

Multiplex assay reliability and long-term intra-individual variation of serologic inflammatory biomarkers.

Background: Circulating cytokines, chemokines, and soluble cytokine receptors can serve as biomarkers of inflammation and immune dysregulation. Good reliability of multiplex platforms, which allow for simultaneous, comprehensive biomarker assessment, is critical for their utility in epidemiologic studies. We examined the reliability of the Meso-Scale Discovery (MSD) platform to simultaneously quantitate 15 cytokines and chemokines and the Luminex platform (R&D Systems) to quantitate 5 soluble receptors and 2 chemokines and cytokines and evaluated long-term within-person correlation of these biomarkers.

Data on serologic inflammatory biomarkers assessed using multiplex assays and host characteristics in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS).

This article contains data on the associations between fixed and modifiable host characteristics and twenty-three biomarkers of inflammation and immune activation measured longitudinally in a cohort of 250 HIV-uninfected men from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (1984-2009) after adjusting for age, study site, and blood draw time of day using generalized gamma regression. This article also presents associations between each biomarker and each host characteristic in a sample restricted to 2001-2009. These data are supplemental to our original research article entitled "Host factors associated with serologic inflammatory markers assessed using multiplex assays" (McKay, S.

Host factors associated with serologic inflammatory markers assessed using multiplex assays.

Chronic systemic inflammation contributes to the development of adverse health conditions, yet the influence of fixed and modifiable risk factors on many serologic biomarkers of inflammation remains largely unknown. Serum concentrations of twenty-three biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), cytokines (CXCL11, CXCL8, CXCL10, CCL2, CCL13, CCL4, CCL17, CXCL13, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-1β, GM-CSF, BAFF), and soluble immune receptors (sCD14, sIL-2Rα, sCD27, sgp130, sTNF-R2) were measured longitudinally using multiplexed immunometric assays in 250 HIV-uninfected men followed in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (1984-2009). Generalized gamma regression was used to determine the statistical significance of factors associated with each biomarker.

Smoking-cessation interventions for U.S. young adults: a systematic review.

Context: Studies have demonstrated the importance of quitting smoking before age 30 years to avoid tobacco-related mortality but little attention has been paid to developing evidence-based smoking-cessation interventions for young adults, as distinct from adolescents and older-aged adults. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of smoking-cessation interventions for U.S.